YouTube is in a spot of bother in Germany for hosting Nazi related material uploaded by users.
Clips include scenes from the 1940 Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda film Jud Suess and music videos from German far-right rock band Landser.
A German parliamentarian was quoted as saying that YouTube hosting these films “amounts to aiding and abetting incitement of these people.” The display of Nazi imagery or logos, or supporting Nazi ideals is illegal in Germany and punishable by jail time as well as severe fines.
According to a ZDNet report Germany’s Central Council of Jews Vice President Salomon Korn was considering pressing charges against Google Germany over the matter.
There is not a person in the world that could say that Google is knowingly aiding and sanctioning the spread of Nazi propaganda. The question, however, is where does one draw the line between providing a forum for people to express their opinion and actively supporting terrible view-points?
I think that Google should be made to handle these videos in the same way that they would handle anything else that might glorify racial, political, social prejudices. They need to see whether it goes against their terms of service and act accordingly.
Suing Google is certainly not the most reasonable response. It seems like little more than a token gesture to try to lay blame on them for the acts of their users. Aren’t we beyond the point now that we blame platforms for the ridiculousness of their users?
I’m surprised nobody covered their 4-10 hour performance issue earlier today. See http://www.grab...=20070828235959
Their claims are utterly ridiculous.
Germany has essentially become a Nazi in their blitzkrieg against Nazi ideology.
It would seem reasonable to ask that YouTube abide by German law and cooperate with law enforcement. Therefore, they at least provide the IP address of the poster, provided it originated in Germany.
If YouTube does not wish to cooperate, Germany is free to build a national firewall ala China, and block whatever sites or content they wish.
They shouldn’t watch it then.
There are many things on Google that many people don’t like. For example, there is a lot of controversy over the fact that Google won’t take down from their listing pro-pedophile websites of Lindsay Ashford and Jack McClellan.
On one hand there is free speech but on the other hand sites that promote racism or child sex can encourage people to do illegal acts.
Why not removing all porn sites from the Internet? One who doesn’t want to view ’special videos’, probably doesn’t search for “porn” or whatever.
Same with the all the illegal software on the BitTorrent network. One who doesn’t want illegal software, probably isn’t downloading it using BT, rite?
funny, funny…
While it may be possible to be overly sensitive to Nazi propaganda and sentiment, I do not think this qualifies as being “over-sensitive.”
My grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and I lost a great deal of family that I never got to know because of Nazi genocide and murder. While I do think that freedom of speech is a vital part of our rights and privileges, I am pretty sure that Nazi videos fall outside of the “acceptable” part of YouTube’s terms of use agreement.
I’m glad the German government objected, and I hope that YouTube will be more proactive about blocking this type of content.
Oh, and Noah, you might not think that the “claims were ridiculous” had your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other family members been murdered as part of a mass genocidal program.
best would be just to stop all German based IP address to access Google. And google.de will point to disney.com.
Already problems with Gmail and Germany… then Google Germany is already censoring web content… and now finally it’s censoring YouTube… what’s next?
My grandparents are holocause survivors as well. My grandfather still doesn’t like germans because of what they did. Some people however have no brains. In russia,there are new political parties eg. white russia, who use the same slogans,nazzi flags,etc. I don’t know how government allows things like this. It’s horrible.
In all fairness to YouTube there are many original news footage from that era.
Here is * very graphic * raw footage:
http://digg.com...anged_The_World
There is an education for millions or people around the world.
And possibly the best way to fight misunderstandings by showing the REAL Sides.
This is a very sensitive topic, and we should all understand the Jewish reaction to anything Nazi related.
However, this is not or should not be the only issue that people are sensitive to. Gun violence, illicit sex, rape, pedophilia, homosexuality, KKK, Armenian genocide, recent genocides in darfur and other places are just a few other example that will offend a group of people. Not all these are equally as horrific as the Holocaust but none the less they are controversial and in a modern society we should be able to deal with them.
For example, we see countless movies that glorify gun violence, a crime that victimizes thousands of people every year. However, we tend to accept showing these movies for two reasons. 1, we assume every adult is intelligent enough to understand the difference between right and wrong and therefor it will not influence by them to commit illegal acts. 2, we restrict these types of movies to certain age limits, reasoning younger people are impressionable and may be influenced by these movies.
We also include parental warning at the beginning of the movies. Now, if this is an acceptable way to deal with a sensitive topic, then why not ask google to put some amount of warning and information about these content. Basically, “the content on this page represent racist materials that have caused murders of millions of innocent people. For more details why these material are objectionable visit ADL site”.
Not saying to use ADL or this text, but I am providing a suggestion, where we are not going to censor internet and at the same time deal with sensitive issue in a proper manner.
bullshit ww 2 is over. if the jewish groups dont like nazi films – dont watch.
It is a sign of sad times that European history lessons are much more promptly delivered to European princes concerning their outift choices for fancy-dress balls [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4170083.stm ]
than to European rulers concerning their repressive actions and laws [http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2007/04/stasi_20.html
http://www.guar...1400584,00.html ]
It is sad how, in the name of “keeping memory alive” and
preventing some history to repeat itself, symbols and speech (from so-called “hate speech” to history discussion) are systematically chosen as THE issues that “must be taken care of”.
It is particularly sad how, in that very same process, the sliding of European states and the European Union into police states — in law and in practice — is, much more than neglected, effectively being aided and abetted.
It is particularly sad how, as the “right not be offended” gets enshrined as a fundamental one (along with the “right to safety”), due process of law and freedom of speech become second-class issues.
To the sons and grandsons of those who witnessed and suffered 20th century European dictatorships and wars, I dare to say: defending and promoting censorship is neither a proper way to honour your ancestors’ memories nor a safe way to protect the future of your own sons and grandsons. Please pay a bit more attention to History, for the sake of us all.
David August 27th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
….
David,
My parents are the survivors of the Communist concentration camps in Siberia.
Hitlers images should be removed from YouTube only if they remove Stalin also.
YouTube’s (and thus Google’s) own terms of contract says it will not allow for such violent and/or racist material. They simply should abide by their own rules and throw out this junk.
As I said elsewhere, to not be allowed to show the movie “Jud Suess” can seriously hinder historic research — this was an official propaganda movie that many Germans at the time saw and that arguably influenced anti-semite opinion. Censoring this movie means you censor a historical artefact. Instead of requesting that, people should understand how YouTube works and post a video response in the movie to put it in more context.
That is not to say that everyone MUST host such videos. It’s up to YouTube to decide what mission they’re on. If they’re with Google’s mission, to make the world’s information accessible, then they should keep it, because historical artefacts ARE information too. In this case, it’s quite a significant bit of historical information. Or are we going to start hiding traces that Germany was very anti-semite during the third reich?
Politicians and members of other organizations seem to have found no effective means to suppress neo nazi violence in east Germany. And that is the real problem behind these censorship outcries. It only means people have given up… if you seriously believe it takes a single YouTube video to turn German youth into nazi killers, you’ve given up. Then you can start caging people because you’re afraid of them acting, and burning books, because you’re afraid of people reading. Burning books (or virtually burning YouTube videos) is however more akin to nazi killer methodology than anything else.
What you people need to do before commenting on this post is actually WATCH “Jud Suess”. As a teenager, I grew up in the Alsace region of France, which bordelines Germany. Historically, my region has very little affinity for the Germans as a whole let alone the Third Reich. Anyway, in high school “Jud Suess” was required viewing. The movie is so ridiculously cartoonish and naive that it probably serves as the best ANTI Nazi propaganda there is.
seems like another person is stepping into the legal line-up youtube is encountering. if youtube neglects to take it down, then they could be prosecuted in german courts under the law or sued by the copyright holder of these films whoever they are. why aren’t they going after the users that uploaded these films more.
It seems to me that freedom of speech only applies when it is convenient or civil. Truth is, freedem of speech in it’s true form may not be either any given time. Do I think the holocaust was a horrible time in history, of course, but it is not the only time. What about Stalin’s regime, where more than three times as many people have been killed than in the holocaust. Yet no one mentions that. It’s all a matter of perception.
They want to post those videos, then let them. It’s what they believe. All you can say is I’m sorry your that ignorant to do so.
of course, let us all forget our history and act like it never happened… see how long that works.
No it’s not about forgetting about history, it’s about hipocracy. People say I have the right to free speech, but then when someone else says something they don’t agree with it’s always, “now he cant say that…” or “he has no right to say that…” Not to mention that this anti-nazi crusade has pro-nazi undertones to it, with such measure’s to censor things deemed inapproriate to say or post.
As long as they’re not trying to recruit people for another crazy scheme of world domination or coming up to your door step and harrasing you, then let it be.
Be Still my heart ! Some one is Insulting the German Government ! I hope
that Google Points out their behavior forever ! I am Jewish I am not insulted by any Nazi Propoganda ! Scratch a present day German ! you find a Nazi !
The copy from a post on the site says it all
you might not think that the “claims were ridiculous” had your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other family members been murdered as part of a mass genocidal program.
hjurgnayz euxobzqsn jsczia etcnu wuldovn sktfiy hkub
jews in gaza are the new nazis, when they stop exterminating palestinians by using fire bombs on women and children then they can talk.gaza is the palestinian warsaw ghetto and israel is the new nazi state, terrorist state. time the world drew a line in the sand, like the old nazis israel wants living room, to achieve this they must push palestinians out of gaza.the world must wake up to israel the new nazi state?
dennis butler. canadian workers party.